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N i g e r i a B e g i n s Va s t R i v e r N i g e r D r e d g e
N
igeria has started a vast operation to dredge the River Niger
to enable boats to carry goods from the Atlantic Ocean to
remote villages in the interior.
The 36bn naira (£140m, $233m) project will remove silt from
hundreds of miles of the river - Africa’s third-longest.
The Nigerian government says it will bring communities
together and secure the flow to hydro-electric plants. The project
has been in the pipeline for four decades, but has been put off by
successive governments.
Activists have previously said the dredging could damage the
livelihoods of villagers along the river.
At the signing-off ceremony in Lokoja, President Umaru
Yar'Adua said the dredging - which is expected to take six to eight
months - would ensure “all-year-round navigability”.
“It will provide an attractive, cheaper and safer means of
haulage of goods, while engendering linkages and promoting trading
activities between adjoining communities,” he said.
About 572km (355 miles) of the river will be dredged - from
Baro in central Nigeria to Warri in the Niger Delta.
Our correspondent says the build-up of silt on the river bed
has reduced the Niger’s retention capacity, resulting in floods and
limiting the possibilities of transportation.
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Officials are also concerned that the silt build-up is limiting
the amount of electricity generated by the Kainji dam in northwestern Nigeria.
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